Character Tendency
Hearing all that talk about Tendency-specific NPCs, you might be wondering about the usual NPCs you’ll find wandering about Boletaria and the Nexus. Wouldn’t sending them to their demise just for the fun of it darken one’s soul a bit? Well that’s where Character Tendency comes in. The blacksmiths kind enough to forge weapons for you, the magic-users always willing to teach you a new spell or miracle, the vendors braving the demon hordes to sell goods out in the field—taking any of their souls or even those of less-important NPCs will shift your Character Tendency black. Although that’s probably the least of your problems, since ending these characters’ lives also means they won’t be forging you new weapons, teaching you magic, or selling you items anymore. That said, the effect on Character Tendency will differ depending on the NPC, so killing that one particular NPC whom you simply can’t stand, might not see you penalized as much.
The special NPCs that factor into World Tendency will also affect Character Tendency in the same way. Slaughtering their friendly forms will darken that figurine on your Tendency menu while taking out their Black Phantom forms will brighten it up. This also serves as your primary method for achieving white Character Tendency, save for one last element of the whole Tendency system that I’ve yet to touch upon.
I’ll let that last segue simmer for a bit while I go over the effects of Character Tendency. As with World Tendency, your max HP is lowered even further if you have black Character Tendency. Another familiar effect is your attack power as a Blue or Black Phantom, which will increase with white and black Character Tendency respectively. In both these cases, the degree of the effect is dependent on how black or white Character Tendency, and yes, they do stack with the similar effects of World Tendency. Should you reach the extremes of the Character Tendency spectrum, you’ll find new things to do in the Nexus. And these new things might just lead to new items, including ones with effects based directly on Character Tendency. Did I forget to mention there was equipment like that? Well, there is. Now about that simmering segue...
Multiplayer
In Demon’s Souls, your actions in the worlds of other players will weigh heavily against your character (feeling of déjà vu entirely intended). You didn’t possibly think that everything you read about in the last blog—invading other worlds, summoning other to help defeat bosses—wouldn’t factor in here too, did you? Well it most certainly does, and you’ve probably already assumed the basics of it.
If a Black Phantom invades your world and succeeds in killing you, that’s black points for his Character Tendency. If you happen to have any Blue Phantoms with you that he dispatches, then that’s bonus black points for him. However, should you send a Black Phantom back to their own world in shame, then that’s white points for both your Character Tendency and your World Tendency for wherever it happened. Your secondary means of gaining white tendency in multiplayer scenarios is through co-op play. Should you help a Blue Phantom earn their body back by summoning them and defeating a boss demon, it’ll net you points toward white Tendency, and the more Phantoms you help revive at once, the better. As with defeating a Black Phantom, this will affect both Character and World Tendency.
Changing Character Tendency
Towards White
- Defeat Black phantom that invaded (Player Killer).
- Defeat Unique Named NPC Black Phantoms which appear only with Pure Black World Tendency. This applies only to these five unique "named" NPC Black Phantoms (Miralda, Scirvir, Rydyell, Satsuki, and Selen). There are other Black Phantoms which won't adjust your character tendency (tested after Patch 1.04) such as the two BPs in the Crystal Gecko nest tunnel in Armor Spider Archstone or the three BPs that appear just beyond the Penetrator's hall Penetrator Archstone. Killing Black Phantoms Ostrava, of Boletaria and Garl Vinland will also not adjust your character tendency, even though they are named.
- Boletarian Palace - Defeat Black Phantom - Executioner Miralda (Note: you need to deliver the final killing blow. Don't let her fall to her death in the stairwell)
- Armor Spider Archstone - Defeat Black Phantom - Scirvir, the Wanderer
- Tower of Latria - Defeat Black Phantom - Lord Rydell
- Maneater Archstone - Defeat Old Monk in Online Mode (counts as Black Phantom PK)
- Shrine of Storms - Defeat Black Phantom - Satsuki
- Leechmonger Archstone - Defeat Black Phantom - Selen Vinland (Note: don't kill her with Soulsucker or there will be no effect in Character Tendency - verified by meng-huo from GameFAQs forum)
- Note: Killing these 5 Black Phantom NPC in certain manner (details uncertain) will not trigger the shift in Character Tendency. Here are some tested examples:
- Killing Black Phantom Selen Vinland with Soulsucker.
- Let Black Phantom Executioner Miralda fall to her death in the stairwell. (A blast from Rage of God or fighting in the stair well may cause this)
- Let Black Phantom Scirvir, the Wanderer fall to his death
- Killing any Black Phantom exclusively with Poison Cloud seems to prevent the shift in character tendency. (I tested this with Rydell and Scirvir, with update 1.04 installed. -StefanieTN)
- Summoned as a Blue Phantom, get yourself killed before defeating the Demon Boss. (Doesn't work for me with update 1.04 installed. -Novril)
Towards Black
- Kill harmless NPC.
- Invade as a Black Phantom, kill host.
Here's a list of relatively harmless (won't hurt your game if dead) NPCs that you can kill to shift the character tendency.
(Note: please add to it from time to time.)
- Boletarian Palace, Phalanx Archstone, Tower Knight Archstone - Dregling Merchant
- Stonefang Tunnel, Armor Spider Archstone - Filthy Man
- Tower of Latria - Once Royal Mistress
- Shrine of Storms, Adjudicator Archstone - Graverobber Blige
- Valley of Defilement, Leechmonger Archstone - Filthy Woman
- Nexus, Boletarian Palace, Phalanx Archstone, Tower Knight Archstone - Ostrava, of Boletaria (body form)
- Nexus, Phalanx Archstone, Tower Knight Archstone, Penetrator Archstone - Biorr, of the Twin Fangs
- Nexus: Blue Phantom NPC (If you don't speak to him, he'll remain in the Nexus for the duration of the game, or until you kill him.)
- Killing four or five (depending on World Tendency) will take you from Pure White to Pure Black.
Notes:
Killing the following Named Black Phantom NPCs has no impact (either way) on Character Tendency (both confirmed).
- Penetrator Archstone - Black Phantom Ostrava, of Boletaria (He appears during any world tendency.)
- Dirty Colossus Archstone - Black Phantom Garl Vinland (He appears only during Pure White world tendency.)
